Stanley G Pinto/TNN  

Mangalore, Oct 14: The need for a police commissionerate here has never been felt as of now, especially after the communal violence rocked the city last week forcing clamping of the curfew.

Superintendent of police B Dayananda admits that the growing city like Mangalore needs to have a commissionerate as it is not possible to do justice to the city with the police force the district is equipped with now.

The commissionerate would mean that the Mangalore city would have a separate police set-up headed by a police officer of the rank of IG/DIG and he/she would look after only this area. It would also mean separate police force for city policing, which will be stationed here and will not be sent out to any part of the district in case of emergency. Citing incidents in the recent past, Dayananda says
quick response time is what is required to contain minor issue snow balling into major flare ups.

“There has to be a
show of force at the place of the incident, even in lanes and by lanes. Concentration and deployment of force has to be more,’’ he adds.

Why was curfew clamped in the entire city instead of targeting sensitive areas? “It’s not possible in a city like Mangalore which has so many lanes and by-lanes,” says the SP defending the decision to impose the curfew. “If we shut one area, trouble may erupt in another area,” said Dayananda citing the example of Bejai, where one person was killed.

Cutting across party lines all political leaders have said police force was inadequate during the crisis. Agrees the SP. “On the day the Kudroli incident took place, we did not have enough forces,” he said. Was Kudroli the start point of the whole crisis? “Kudroli incident was defused. It was just a gathering of people, which has happened even earlier. But the problem was because of the bandh call,’’ he said.

How can organisations hold the city to ransom with the bandh call? “People should not cooperate with bandh organisers. During any bandh it’s humanly impossible to provide protection to every bus and corner. So inevitably a bandh becomes a success here,’’ he added.

After the curfew was imposed, 150 officers, 902 head constables and police constables, 100 recruits, 200 home guards, 33 KSRPs and 13 DAR personnel were deployed.

But what is disturbing is that the entire district with a population of more than 10 lakh has only 1,464 police.